By Rush Blakely
The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) hosted this year’s OPTECH conference in beautiful National Harbor, MD, last week. Not only is it one of the most well-attended industry conferences, but this event is also a great way for multifamily industry professionals to discuss and learn about technological advances that impact property operations while connecting with peers in the industry.
The RealtyCom team thoroughly enjoyed meeting with clients, internet providers, technology suppliers, and friends, while attending thought-provoking educational and legislative sessions. Bob Reiss and Spencer Brown from our bidding operations team had valuable time with many of the Service Providers to discuss trends and current projects, while Anne Gieseke and Rush Blakely were able to connect with many of our clients and discuss their goals moving into 2025.
If you missed the event this year, some highlights from our team included:
The Real Estate Technology & Transformation Center. RETTC was announced earlier this year but made its debut at OPTECH. As an affiliate of NMHC, RETTC was formed to be a premier hub for networking, knowledge building, advocacy, and convening. In fact, RETTC will be the new home for OPTECH next year along with the Tech & Data Summit in April and RETTC Advocacy Day in September 2025.
Regulatory Update. RealtyCom was invited to attend the NMHC Intelligent Buildings & Connectivity Committee which also included a regulatory update. There has not been much movement on the part of the FCC following their anti-bulk regulation announcement earlier this year. This is thanks to many of the amazing industry partners pulling together owners and providers and other stakeholders in lobbying efforts with both the FCC and Congress. While there haven’t been substantive updates on the part of the FCC, there has been almost nonstop changes in states, cities and counties instating new regulations. Many local jurisdictions have regulated how costs for bulk services can be passed on to residents. It is now more important than ever to have local attorneys review resident leases and planned bulk amenity fees before launching new bulk agreements.
Provider Meetings. RealtyCom hosted meetings with 20+ internet providers we work with regularly. These meetings offer a great opportunity to discuss product roadmaps, address any issues in our workflows, discuss new initiatives, and connect with team members. We needed some rest after three days of jam-packed meetings, but these meetings are critical to furthering our education on provider’s products and potential impacts to our client’s properties.
Robots! Ameca, the world’s most advanced human shaped robot attended OPTECH. Attendees were allowed to interact with Ameca and ask questions. While personally, I felt Ameca’s lifelike facial expressions and direct eye contact to be a bit uncomfortable, there is no doubt that this type of advancement in robotics and AI/large language models will have both far-reaching possibilities and implications for how we live.
If you’d like to connect with us to discuss any other trends or questions you might have about something you heard at the conference, please get in touch at info@realtycompartners.com and we’d be glad to connect.
